September 30, 2014

Allison Martell and Daniel Trotta, Reuters

(Reuters) - Cuba offered to free jailed Canadian executive Cy Tokmakjian in return for $55 million and company assets, his company said on Monday, but the deal fell through because the firm didn't have the money and the businessman wanted to clear his name.

Tokmakjian, 74, founder and chief executive of transportation firm Tokmakjian Group, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday after being convicted of bribery and other economic charges in a case that lawyers and diplomats called a chilling development for potential foreign investors.

After Tokmakjian was detained in 2011, company lawyers met with Cuban officials about the case, said Lee Hacker, the Tokmakjian Group's vice-president for finance...